Quid Pro Quo
by Mother of Pearl
Summary: All characters belong to Joss Whedon…I borrowed them for a fantasy. This takes place between The Girl in Question and Not Fade Away, in Season 5, Angel the Series.


Lorne rose to greet me, and grabbed me into a hug

All characters belong to Joss Whedon…I borrowed them for a fantasy. This takes place between _The Girl in Question_ and _Not Fade Away_, in Season 5, Angel the Series.

Lorne rose to greet me, and grabbed me into a hug. "Hello kitten…"

I pulled back from his effusive greeting and frowned.

"Okay, cat…."

I still frowned.

"Okay…then, lethal and deadly beautiful black panther…"

I relented and let him kiss me on both cheeks. He shooed his assistants out of his office and closed the doors. I cringed when a note from Lorne stung my ears.

"Sorry," he muttered. "A well-timed high A note disables the electronic surveillance in my office, which gives us five minutes to chat before security and maintenance appear for their song and dance routine." He closed the blinds, pulled a chair close to his desk for me and reached for a folder.

"Your future looks bright with this contract, Faith. The studio liked your style, and wants you for a trilogy of movies which start filming one month from now. This contract doesn't require bloodletting or your eternal soul." He poured a double Sea Breeze while I scanned his proposal.

"What am I going to do for a month?" I shook my head in annoyance, but signed anyway.

"Get the hell out of LA; Angel says there's an apocalypse coming…"

"Another one?" I laughed.

"He's creating this one, with his own personal timeline; which is why I had to see you today. This," He handed me a different manila folder, "is the cost of providing you with a reputable agent who isn't connected to Wolfram Hart."

I finished reading and set aside the paperwork. "You're serious?"

"As a human heart beat…which one of the principals doesn't have anymore."

"When?"

"My sexy slayer, you depart via a Wolfram Hart jet in thirty minutes. Four hours from now you will be in romantic, historic Rome, Italy. Your cover for Wolfram Hart will be coercing Buffy to join you at the studio. Your cover with Buffy will be a month-long contract with Giles and the new Watchers Council to find new slayers in Europe and test new watchers. At the end of the month, you'd be back here to fulfill that contract with the movie studio. You will slay them in Hollywood, and I mean that in the non-weapon killing sense. This task will endear you to the PTB."

"Powers That Be?" I voiced my surprise.

"Pretty, tousled boys," he laughed, "Pouty, tormented boys,...or…"

"The Pec and Torso Boys still have a thing for Buffy?" I interrupted.

"She's in their blood and her current affiliation is getting under their skin." Lorne finished his Sea Breeze and poured another. "Here's to a successful vacation in Italy…see the sights and don't get addicted to expensive leather shoes." He toasted me and then swore in his native Pylean. "Show time. Security is hovering outside the door like a nervous stage-hen mother. Here's a designer bag full of clothes, money and assorted vile weaponry. We'll be monitored on the way to the airport. You be a quiet and grateful little minion during the ride to the airport and I'll play the part of a chatty middle-aged, but still hip, tour guide."

Hamilton watched as Faith boarded the plane. He turned to Lorne, "Is there a reason you put a Slayer on a Wolfram Hart jet?"

"Listen, Mr. Wingtips, the senior partners will be pleased to know that Dark Beauty has been sidetracked from her pointy path by a lucrative stunt woman gig. The studio will keep her too busy to dust clients or befriend Angel for the next two years. She's going to Italy to entice Buffy Sommers to tag team with her." Lorne smiled, waved at Faith's departing plane and downed his final Sea Breeze made from Wolfram Hart ingredients.

"Impressive," Hamilton nodded.

Three weeks later….Rome, Italy

Someone turned the volume down on the sound system. "Who dares interrupt my rock and roll?" I asked crossly, turning my head toward the pergola opening, and propping myself up on my elbows. I barely opened one eye, swirling my toes idly in the hot tub as I lay on the side deck.

He stood by the sound system, with a smirk on his face; hand poised near the volume button. His voice was liquid seduction to match his physical appearance. "I wondered if you were asleep or deep in thought. Got any fantasies you want to share? I've heard unfulfilled fantasies are painful." He crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged at me.

"I was daydreaming about a warm breeze swirling the hem of my sarong as I sit in the shade on the villa's verandah, with my feet propped up on the railing. The breeze carries the fragrance of spicy flowers and ripples the brilliant blue Mediterranean Sea. A salmon and violet-colored sunset darkens the horizon. The noise behind me is you, acting as my cabana boy. You are dressed in white gauze shirt and pants, carrying a pitcher of cold Sangria to me."

"What are you wearing in your fantasy besides a sarong to make me act as a cabana boy?"

"Your call -- I think matching Victoria's Secret or commando is equally intriguing."

"What are you wearing under your shirt now?"

"Raspberry-colored matching Victoria's Secret…and a sprinkle of _Obsession_. What are you wearing under your black silk shirt and black Calvin Klein slacks?"

"Antique gold chain with a bloodstone crystal."

"Interesting choice."

"Show me the underwear."

"Quid pro quo…show me the crystal first." I hit the power button on the sound system remote to turn it off.

He wasted no time unbuttoning his shirt.

I stood up, and slowly unbuttoned my shirt, dropping it behind me on the deck. His eyes feasted on my suntanned skin and shoulder-length dark hair. He eagerly took a step toward me at the same time I took a step toward him. I bellyflopped into the hot tub …splashing holy water on his pale skin as the laser triggered by the power button on the sound system removed his head from his body.

His words were lost in a sizzling puff of smoke and dust as his body disintegrated. I think he yelled, "You bitch!" There may have been a tone of admiration in his voice, but I was underwater at the time and might have only imagined it.

I stepped out of the hot tub and picked up the antique gold chain and bloodstone crystal. I rinsed the dust off it in the hot tub. I twirled it thoughtfully around my finger as I entered the villa to greet my new watcher Simon. "Here, present for you," I dropped the trinket into his hand.

"The Immortal?" Simon gasped.

"Bad things happen when cold-blooded reptiles are tempted by heat. Eternal things happen when we fill hot tubs with holy water and use lasers camouflaged in sound systems. " I smiled as I strolled to my room very aware that Simon was more interested in the trinket than my underwear. "Make a full report to the Council…maybe they could use this scenario again."


End file.
